Is it just me or have the prices for airfare gone sky high? I've been checking for few months and the prices are crazy? Even to go to Vegas, the prices are waaaay higher than in the past couple of years. I can't even find a good air/hotel package to Vegas. I've been even looking at airfare to Hawaii or Aruba, the prices are extreme!! Normally I can catch a good last minute deal or something this time of the year. No such luck! Is the travel industry back in full swing or something? It's been unbelievable.

I think things vary from week to week, season to season, and airline routes and competition can cause changes. For example, I had thought a good price from NYC to HNL was around $600 until I saw it drop a few weeks to around $500.

There are several reasons you've been impressed the way you have. Among them: Las Vegas has evolved from being a cheap, "we won't charge you much for the hotel, 'cause we'll get it back through the casino" place, to a place where the casinos have learned that even if they jack up hotel rates people will still pay the higher prices; Demand is so high in LV that prices have increased dramatically over the past 10 years; same goes for LV airfares, though they have gone up less than hotel rates, they're still up.
As for Aruba, competition in the Craibbean tailed off significantly after 9/11; total number of flights are way down, and that means fares have gone up and occupancy rates are high.
Hawaii has been hit or miss for many years; even before 9/11 rates east of California would hover well above $600 for months without a break. Also, after 9/11 many Americans who used to travel to Europe for vacations opted to limit themselves to Hawaii and the Caribbean, which also drove up demand.

If you check short haul commuter type routes and Southwest fares, they haven't changed as much over the past few years.
Winter fares to Europe were very competitive, with Chicago-London RT rates at ~$190 just like they have been for the past several years.

So it really boils down to the specific destination you're looking at.
Mostly it's plain old supply and demand.

In order to cut costs, airlines have parked planes, cut back on routes, and eliminated routes.

Fewer seats and higher prices.

Airlines have to have over an 80% pax load to break even.

Fewer planes, fewer seats, fewer cities, fewer choices. More overbooking, more sardine flights, more pain and suffering.

Bring back the trains.

Is it just me? or is this one of the worst headers ever for a fodors.com post?

Seriously, please oh please give us some idea of WHAT or WHERE in the header. I hate opening posts just to see what they are about AND the original poster gets far fewer good replies.

NOW, airfares are always up in the spring/summer so perhaps that's part of the problem. Where you live and where you want to go can make a difference, too. I haven't noticed airfares being any higher from my home airport.

I've noticed prices higher from here in central Ohio, but I also noticed there are bargains if you can happen to find them. We picked up $100 round trip from Columbus to Orlando on Southwest Airlines last Saturday evening - but it normally is around $100 one-way. I don't know the reason behind the cheaper fare......but I'll take it!!

I was just checking a couple of weeks ago for airline rates to SC from SFO in May and when I checked yesterday, the same dates, airlines and times jumped in price $50 per ticket....It's not just you.

Utahtea

I agree totally travlis on this. We travel very affordably to many different places. If there is any secret to getting good deals, it is flexibility and adaptability to conditions. We evaluate many different factors as we plan affordable travel to wonderful destinations. Often, we find that two or three years later, those destinations become "hot" or other factors come into play that change the economics of a given location signifantly. My first piece of advice would be to broaden your horizons well beyond the U.S. Although there are still good deals within the country, evaluating further afield will give you a better idea about relative value and you will make better choices. Second, I suggest to people that they get a better handle on planning. It's not only fun, but it saves a lot of money. I'm taking off next weekend on a flight that I purchased last August because I knew it was a steal. The only way to get that kind of feel for the market is to spend some time observing it. The travel industry IS returning to a more healthy status in many areas now. Business travel is picking up and hotel occupancy rates are well off their lows. Capacity has been adjusted in the airline industry to match it more closely with demand. Bottom line: people will either have to pay a little more attention or they can end up paying a lot more money.

ccolor-Wow! How did you manage to snag such a great fare? We are going to FLL next month and the cheapest I could find was USAir at $269 person (including taxes.) I checked SW everyday for a decent fare, delta also. I heard ever since America West pulled out of Columbus cheap fares are very hard to find and Dayton is the place to go now for deals.

Buckeyemom: Yeah, I know what you're talking about. We USED to have it made going from Columbus to Orlando, but it has really gone up in price lately. We normally fly with Delta and I can't say why I happened to check SW's website (just plain dumb luck), but when we saw the price we grabbed it. The price was back to normal the next morning and I went to eBay and won some drink vouchers so we're almost ready - now if the car rental prices would drop in front of my face we'd REALLY be set!

I am going to S.D. Calif. next month. I booked late Jan. for $419 rd trip. Air fare dropped to $305 rd trip. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. I got ripped by booking to early. I did call them, and they will give me a credit on future flight within a year. That at least was some consolation. As for Vegas, I think summer still has some great deals.

I'm telling ya, these airfare prices have hit the roof. I'm going to start checking daily. This is ridiculous. We don't have any kids, so we like to travel off season. Usually in January or sometimes February or the fall months. I've been looking now for deals and haven't seen anything!!! I live in Michigan and normally due to the new casinos in town, I can find cheap deals at nice hotels for Vegas. We snagged a good price to Ft.Lauderdale last year in November on Northwest. I'm going to check out Southwest website. $500-$600 is a great deal to Hawaii!! Last year in January, we found a great deal- $600 to Maui from Detroit.

Janny, I have a "Best Fares" tracker on my Yahoo home page that I have personalized for all the cities to which I might interested in flying in the future. For instance, the airfare today from Detroit to Frankfurt, Germany is only $262 roundtrip and Las Vegas is only $199. Both are lots cheaper than I have seen in a long time. Since our kids are grown, we are fortunate to be able to plan our travel dictated by the price, rather than by date. We wait for a good price to come up for a place we want to go and then book it.

Thanks Maggi, I'll definitely keep that in mind.